Neva Dinova - You May Already Be Dreaming

Band: Neva Dinova
Album: You May Already Be Dreaming
Genre: Alterna-Folk
Label: Saddle Creek

Tracks:
1. Love From Below
2. Will The Ladies Send You Flowers
3. Clouds
4. Supercomputer
5. Tryptophan
6. Squirrels
7. She's a Ghost
8. Someone's Trippin'
9. What You Want
10. Funeral Home
11. It's Hard to Love You
12. No One Loves Me
13. Apocalypse
14. A Man and His Dream

Hailing from the great state of Nebraska, Neva Dinova came to fruition in its earliest prolific incarnation in 1992. The group is vocally driven, and backed by polyphonic guitar playing and light percussion. Most of the songs move along at a slow walking pace, reminiscent of the 1959 Santo and Johnny hit, “Sleepwalk,” but the group also makes an effort to pickup the pace with a much more alternative-folk sound on a few select tracks. From the very first listen though, it’s quite evident that the group’s main focus is in the lyrical content, which ranges in topic from the bitter turmoil of love to topics more cryptic in nature. According to the CDDB information my iTunes retrieved from the Internet, the group lists themselves as Alternative and Punk, but there is very little about the musical style that suggests punk rock, and the group is certainly not as alternative as let’s say, Faith No More, but they would certainly not be pigeon-holed into a classically folk genre either, so I think in this case its up to the listener to decide what sort of sub-genre Neva Dinova is going to be cast into with their 2008 release You May Already Be Dreaming.

You May Already Be Dreaming is the newest full-length album from the group, and certainly displays that the group is not experiencing a drought in musical talent. Not just instrumental talent, but tightly arranged vocal harmonies adorn the album like lights on a Christmas tree, and create an engulfing musical presence in the room around the listener. “Apocalypse,” may be the most enchanting of the songs on the album with a haunting vocal melody, punctuated by elemental harmony, followed by an explosion of drums, and distorted lead guitar. If the world were coming to an end, and you didn’t have a copy of R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World and We Know it,” Neva Dinova’s “Apocalypse” would certainly be a worthy substitute. One of the albums more rocking tracks is “What You Want,” a story about a guy that’s all wrong for the girl who wants him. Besides being one of the more upbeat tracks musically, it is probably the most passionately delivered vocal performance on the album. Some of the other more captivating tracks on the album include “Someone’s Trippin,” the simple-yet-elegant “Clouds,” and the dreamy “Tryptophan.”

While the album has a pleasing sound, the production is certainly heavy in compression and reverb, an ages-old technique used on pop singles that essentially kills the dynamic range and emotion of the album. In fact many of the songs wreak of inorganic digital processing, something that really distracts from the ‘folky’ style of the group’s playing. Some tracks that you may never listen to include, “Supercomputer,” a vain attempt at a rehashing of “Money for Nothing,” and “Love From Below,” which sounds like a scrapped Johnny Cash demo song about Karen Carpenter.

You May Already Be Dreaming is a decent alterna-folk album, and me be just the album you’re looking for, odds are this isn’t an album that you can’t live without. For fans of modern folk this album is something you may want to give a quick spin, but if it doesn’t butter your toast, don’t switch to margarine, this album is not going to be the creamiest spread your sink your teeth into.

*Written By: Matt Bullock*
GRADE: 4/10
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